


I Got Fire in My Soul

by heeroluva



Category: The Chronicles of Riddick Series
Genre: M/M, space dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-04 08:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14016063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeroluva/pseuds/heeroluva
Summary: When coming to Furya, Riddick wasn’t certain what he’d find. He’d imagined many things, but certainly not anything like this.





	I Got Fire in My Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



The Vaako that returns to the ship is different than the one that Riddick remembers, more comfortable in his skin, but Riddick won’t let that distract him.

When Vaako enters his chambers, Riddick gives him no time to get over his surprise at seeing Riddick alive, and instead slams him back against the wall. Vaako tries the soul flicker trick, but Riddick is ready for it, his grip tight around Vaako’s throat.

“We had a deal,” Vaako grunts, making no move to push Riddick away.

“Surprised to see me alive?” 

“Surprised to see you here. Was Furya not to your liking then?”

Riddick searches for the lie, for the tell, but Vaako gives nothing away. His heart beat is steady beneath Riddick’s hand, his breathing calm.

“Not Furya. The planet that Krome attempted to kill me on was not Furya.”

A flash of emotion flickers across Vaako’s eyes, and then it’s gone. “I’ll kill him.”

“Too late,” Riddick says, smile sharp. “Tell me you did not know of his plan.”

“I did not know.”

Leaning forward, Riddick brushes his nose against Vaako’s neck, breathing in the scent of him.

“You will take me to Furya.”

Vaako opens his mouth, perhaps to protest.

“You and you alone.”

Vaako’s stares at him for a long moment, but finally he tilts his head in deference, “As you wish, Lord Marshall.”

 

  
Furya turns out to be nothing like Not Furya. The thick volcanic clouds that shroud the planet interfere with their scans, so they fly beneath them. The unexpected brightness that they’re greeted with causes Riddick to yank on his goggles.

Riddick isn’t often shocked, but the sight that greets his leaves him momentarily awed. “Well that’s not something you see every day.” The surface of the planet glows with every color of the rainbow, and as they flew closer it became apparent that it was the plants giving off the light.

Scans show no humans on the heavily volcanic world, but despite the high concentrations of carbon dioxide and sulfur in the atmosphere, despite the lack of sunlight, plant life has managed to adapt and flourish on a world formerly stripped bare by the Conquest Icons of the Necromonger Empire. The amount of animal life is much more surprising, but if Riddick knows anything about Furya it is that only the strong survive. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

“The air isn’t breathable,” Vaako announces.

Riddick doesn’t care. “Take us down.”

After some searching they find the only place that the trees give way, the only place they can land, is at the base of an active volcano. Even that is covered with life, moss and lichen that glows purple and blue thriving right next to the magma flows.

Riddick isn’t fond of the suit he pulls on, of the way it makes it difficult for him to conceal his blades, of the way the helmet dulls his senses, but it’s a tradeoff he has no choice but to deal with if he wants to breathe. After some trial and error he finds places for his blades, and after some consideration, while he isn’t fond of them, straps on a gun. He doesn’t expect Vaako to slip into a suit as well, but doesn’t comment on it as he watches Vaako arm himself as well.

Exiting the ship, even through his insulated suit, Riddick instantly feels the oppressive heat. As Riddick walks towards the tree line, he watches the moss beneath his feet glow brighter. Reaching the edges of the forest, Riddick runs his fingers along the edge of a fern, noting the curious way they snap leafs fold up at his touch. 

Riddick is not so enthralled that he doesn’t notice that Vaako’s focus is nearly solely on him. “How long until the fleet notices you’re missing?” 

“The concubines will buy us a few days at least. Beyond that I cannot guess.” 

Vaako looks as though he has a question, but it remains unasked as a strange shrieking causes them both to spin, watching as a dozen rocks fly from the volcano and towards them. It takes a moment to realize, no not rock, that whatever they are appears to be alive. Running back to the ship, they don’t make it far before the creatures are upon them. They stand no chance against the huge creatures, barely able to shout before they find themselves snatched up by talons and airborne.

Examining the creatures, the deep black of their rocky hide cut through with glowing red fissues reminiscent of the magma field around them, the massive wings, the four legs ending in impressive talons that held him with deceptive care, Riddick remembers reading stories that are said to have originated from Earth That Was, of large reptilian creatures with wings and fangs and claws. Dragons they were called.

Riddick has no more time to think on such things as the creatures suddenly dive into volcano, and Riddick is certain he’s going to die, the heat stealing his breath. Instead of plunging into the pool of magma, they abruptly turn and land in a chamber off to the side. Radiant heat is still visible, but Riddick’s lungs no longer feel like they’re seizing. That doesn’t last for long as his suit is suddenly shredded, his helmet yanked off.

Holding his breath and slowing down his heart, Riddick watches the way that Vaako attempts to soul flicker out of reach, a move that is stopped when a huge paw slams him to the ground while another shreds his suit and removes his helmet as well. Vaako instantly gasps for breath, and the dragons step back, forming a circle around them, watching, waiting for something.

They don’t have to wait for long, as two of what Riddick had thought were rocks suddenly crumble. Eggs, Riddick realizes upon seeing the much smaller and delicate forms that are revealed. The dragons screech when the two dragonlings move forward, one towards Riddick and one towards Vaako. Vaako barely seems to notice, half unconscious already, but Riddick stares the one coming towards him down.

Despite the mouthful of impressive fangs, and paws already tipped with talons bigger than his hands, Riddick senses no threat, only excitement and curiosity. His heart skips a beat, and the creature shrieks, throwing itself at Riddick.

At the impact, Riddick has no choice but to breathe in, and instantly regrets it as his body tries to reject the poisonous gas it inhales. The dragonling’s head knocks painfully against his own, but he barely notices it or the strange pressure in his head before the world goes dark.

 

  
Riddick awakes to a pounding head and a heavy weight on his chest, instantly on edge, but strangely feeling no need to move as unknown voices argue around him.

“This is an outrage! To bring one of _them_ to our planet, after what they’ve done.”

“Kill him!”

“It’s too late. He’s already bonded.”

“I won’t stand for this!”

There is a shriek and suddenly the weight on his chest is gone as the need to protect and defend flairs strongly in him. Springing to his feet, there is a scream, and Riddick examines the scene before him. The two dragonlings have their fangs bared, their small yet impressive wings spread wide, sitting back on their heels to display their talons threateningly at a young dark-skinned, red-headed woman. A commotion outside and a large dragon head appears in the doorway, blinks at the scene before disappearing again.

Attention mostly on the two occupants of the room, Riddick circles around the outside of the room until he stands beside the table that hold Vaako’s still prone form, his color not as pale as Riddick is used to seeing. He dislikes the lack of weapons, even makeshift ones, but his hands will do if necessarily.

A sudden pain in his head drives Riddick to his knees, his fingers curling against his bare scalp in a useless attempt to stop it. Both dragonlings move, one laying itself on Vaako’s chest, the other pressing itself against Riddick, forcing him onto his ass before making itself at home in his lap.

The pain instantly fades to a dull ache, and Riddick can’t help but voice his question. “Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?”

The other woman, older and also dark-skinned and red-haired, perhaps the younger’s mother, spoke. “It was you who came to us. First you will answer my questions, and then I will consider answering yours. Why are you here?”

Riddick’s instinctive anger and mistrust faded as quickly as it rose when the dragonlings in his arms warbled and shoved its head under his chin. “I’ve come seeking answers.”

“Answer—”

Her question cuts off when Vaako suddenly starts screaming, the dragonlings on his chest shrieking too as Vaako’s hands fist in his hair, blood beginning to leak from his eyes, ears, and nose.

A man appears through the doorway, a doctor perhaps if the large syringe in his hand is anything to go by. When he slams the large needle directly into Vaako’s heart, Riddick surges to his feet, the dragonlings talons cutting into him unnoticed as it struggles to hold onto him, but Vaako quiets instantly, his eyes wide and unseeing.

“What have you done to me?” Vaako whispers before going limp, presumably passing out again.

“No more games!” Riddick snarls. “Is this Furya?”

“You are in no position—”

Grabbing the doctor and the syringe, Riddick breaks the glass against the edge of the table and presses the ragged edge against the doctor’s neck, ignoring the shrieking outside the door and the displeased sound the dragonlings on his chest makes at begin squished between their bodies. “Is this Furya?” Riddick repeats, biting out each word.

The woman’s eyes go hard as she replies, “Yes, this is Furya.”

“And you are Furyan.”

“Yes.”

“How did you survive the Necromangers?”

The younger woman who had remained silent since the threatening display now suddenly hisses, “You bring one here, and dare to ask that?”

“Enough, Shani!”

“But mother—”

“I said enough!” Returning her attention to Riddick, her smile is sharp. “We are not so easy to kill. Badru, quit playing the victim.”

The man in Riddick’s arms moves shockingly fast, escaping his hold, ridding him of his weapon, and moving to stand at the woman’s side all in the span of mere seconds.

Not alone, a part of him quivers in excitement. Not his, not pack, the other part mourns.

Between one heartbeat and the next, Riddick crashes to the ground unconscious.

 

  
When Riddick awakes again there is still a pressure against his chest, and he’s on fire, sweating and sticking to the metal he’s lying on. Movement at his side draws his attention, and he finds Vaako shivering violently. Riddick doesn’t question the urge to pull him against his chest, the two dragonlings making protesting sounds as they’re forced to rearrange themselves on top of them. Riddick enjoys the coolness of Vaako’s skin against his while he also worries that his temperature is so low.

“He fights it, both body and mind.”

Riddick doesn’t startle at the sound of the voice, the doctor, Badru.

“What’s happening to us?”

“You’re bonding.”

“Bonding?” Riddick parrots back.

“To the dragonlings. Your very DNA is changing to allow for it. Typically we bond shortly after birth. It’s easier then in both the child and the dragonling. They’ll grow up together. Now you, your mind and body are less malleable, it’s struggling with the change and the connection. It’s why you can breathe unaided. Your dragonlings will be forced to grow rapidly.”

“And if I say I don’t want this?” Riddick rumbles the edge of a threat in his voice.

Badu shrugs, clearly unimpressed. “It was too late the moment you set foot on this planet. Once the bonding is complete, you may try to leave, but I imagine you will find it difficult.”

“What of Vaako?”

“The Necromanger? He accepts it, or he dies. Never have I seen the dragons attempt to bond with a non-Furyan. Usually they just kill them. Maybe they sensed the bond between you.”

“What bond?” Riddick asks, not understanding all this talk of bonding.

“Are you not mates then?”

“We’ve fucked if that’s what you’re asking, but we certainly aren’t life partners.”

Badru raises a brow, eyes raking over the way Riddick holds Vaako against his chest. “If you say so.”

A wave of exhaustion hits Riddick, and he’s helpless in its wake, falling into unconsciousness once more.

 

  
It’s the sudden stiffness of Vaako’s body against Riddick’s that pulls Riddick from his sleep, puts him on the defensive.

“Peace,” the older woman from before says, holding up her hands to show that they are empty that she’s not a threat.

Such gestures mean nothing, and it does little to calm Riddick’s nerves, especially when the dragonlings pick up their tension and shriek.

“I am Lecia, leader of this clan. You must understand that we are wary of strangers here, especially one such as your friend. Your arrival has caused quite the stir. Some are calling for your deaths, even knowing it’s impossible.”

“We’ve been unconscious and defenseless, certainly easy to kill. What’s stopping you?”

“Oh you would die easy enough, I’m sure, but so would many of our people. The dragonlings are far too young to survive without a bond. If we were to kill you, then they would also die. Nothing is more important to dragons than their young, not even their bonded. Not only would your murderers be killed, but anyone with ill will towards you would also be killed. It would be a slaughter.”

Vaako makes a pained sound, eyes squeezing shut as his arms curl protectively around the dragonling lying on top of him. Riddick notes the way its body has faded from the vibrant black and glowing reds of his own dragonling to an unhealthy looking dusky grey.

“We’ll lose them both soon if he doesn’t stop fighting it,” Lecia says, voice full of sorrow.

“I’m not fighting anything except the pain,” Vaako bites out each word as though it pains him.

“The pain is of your own making,” Lecia tuts. “Necromangers cut themselves off from pain because they fear it. Furyans embrace it and take strength from it. Let go, and all with be well.”

Vaako breaks out in a sweat and begins shivering again against Riddick’s side.

Never has Riddick felt more helpless, and never has he hated the feeling more.

Lecia takes her leave, and for hours Riddick holds Vaako, the longest he’s been awake since he’s set foot on this planet. Riddick muses over her words, briefly considering attempting to use the dragonlings as a way to escape, but nearly immediately recoils from the thought. The dragonling makes a sound, and Riddick frowns, not impressed by the way the little creature seems to be rewiring his head, making him its protector. When coming to Furya, Riddick wasn’t certain what he’d find. He’d imagined many things, but certainly not anything like this.

Suddenly there’s a growing pressure in Riddick’s head like his brain is suddenly two then three sizes too big for his skull. He doesn’t realize he’s bitten Vaako until he tastes blood, until Vaako shoves him away with a snarl.

Riddick isn’t certain how it happens, he just knows that one moment they’re staring at once another, they next they’re throwing punches and tussling until they roll off the table. Their grappling doesn’t stop when they hit the floor, snarling at each other.

It’s only the angry shrieking of their dragonlings that stop them, as Riddick and Vaako turn in one to see them snapping at each other. Riddick only barely manages to pulls his away before it attempts eviscerates the other with its talons, Vaako pulling his own against him. Together they sit side by side with their backs against the wall, any fight they might have had in them draining.

It’s replaced by a feral possessiveness, a need to prove it, and Riddick fists his head in Vaako’s hair, forcing Vaako’s head to turn, for their eyes to meet. “You’re mine. Everything that you’ve ever been, everything that you are, everything that you ever will be.”

Vaako wrenches his head away and soul flickers to Riddick’s other side, licking a stripe across the salty skin of his neck. “Just as you are mine.”

The molten tongue of Vaako’s dragonlings unexpectedly swipes across the blood on Riddick’s cheek, and suddenly they’re all screaming. 

Riddick is certain his head is going to explode, that his brain is going to paint the walls. He’s certain he can feel every cell in his body remaking itself, every bone strengthening.

As suddenly as it starts, it’s over, and a thought that is not his own drifts through his brain followed by a wave of contentment.

_Home._

Unconsciousness raises its arms and drags Riddick under once more.

 

  
When Riddick awoke it to ravenous hunger and to the sight of Vaako feeding his dragonling scraps of meat while his other hand pets Riddick’s.

“This is Pax,” Vaako says not even looking his way. “I asked yours her name, but she refused to tell me first.”

Riddick’s dragonling seemed hesitant as she closed the space between them, pressing her snout against his neck.

_Jack?_

The name was like a punch to gut, and Riddick’s chest goes tight as he petted her quivering form.

“Jack,” Riddick says. “Her name is Jack.”

She instantly relaxes against him, then demands, _Food now._

It’s only after the dragonlings have gorged themselves that Lecia appears.

“You’ve both beaten the odds, and now the question is what to do with you.”

“As current and former Lord Marshalls the Empire will seek us out sooner rather than later.”

Lecia’s face turns feral, her eyes burn with a fire from within. “I would like to see them try. They will find us much changed from the last time they were here, and they will not like what they find. If they seek us out, as all others who have come before them in recent years, they will not survive to tell the tale.”

“You seem so sure.”

“The dragons that you’ve seen, they’re still young only a few decades old at most. The matriarch of this volcano rarely comes to the surface. Her eldest children are our starships. The mother of them all lives within our sun, and if we require it, she will come it our aid.”

“That’s impossible,” Vaako says.

“Nothing is impossible.”

“Why did they not come to your aid, during the last attack?” Riddick asks.

“It was only after the Icons ravaged the planet that the dragons awoke from their long slumber, bonding with those that survived.”

“You trust very easily.”

“What other choice did we have? We were dead and dying, on a destroyed planet. Once millennia ago, the dragons were bonded with another race, a race which got greedy and attempted to take dragon eggs off world and sell them to outsiders. The dragons wiped them out and have hibernated, waiting for another race they could bond with. We respect that loyalty and power.”

“Ouroboros,” Vaako breathes, clearly shocked. “The dragon that eats its own tail. Some of the people of my birth planet believed that dragons lived at the heart of planets and stars, that they were the creators and takers of life. Some even worshipped them. Could they exist in other solar systems?”

“It’s likely. Kekule, the great mother who lives in the sun, said she and her sisters have all long since set up to create their own territories.”

“I’ve seen the Underverse, walked it, tasted it, touched it, been touched by it. This make no sense!”

“Make your peace with your faith and let it go. Such ideas will not be welcome here. The dragons do not claim divinity, only longevity.”

“Do not speak to me of—”

Vaako cut off as Riddick’s fingers cuff around his wrist, bringing with it a strange sense of calm.

“What is this? What have you done to me?” With a cry, both Vaako and Pax soul flicker past a startled Lecia.

“Let him go. He will—”

“Do not presume to order me around,” Riddick snarls as he stalks out the door, following Vaako’s scent. Eyes both dragon and Furyan follow him, but he ignores them, they are inconsequential to his need to find Vaako.

He’s finds Vaako kneeling at the edge of magma pool, Pax happily swimming in it. Jack makes an excited sound and joins her, and Riddick wonders that he doesn’t even notice the heat it produces, its waves visibly rising from the bubbling surface. 

Vaako and Riddick watch as Jack and Pax folic, both feeling their dragonlings’ contentment, until Vaako speaks, “For over thirty years I’ve believed in and upheld the Necromanger faith. I’ve crossed the Threshold, been to the Underverse, been changed by it. But now I find myself changed again by this creature, caring for her, and instead of hoping that the Necromangers don’t seek me out, I hope they do, so I can see the power of these dragons.”

Riddick reaches out to place his hand on Vaako’s shoulder, but Vaako smacks his hand away and soul flickers out of reach.

“I will not have your calm forced upon me again. I won’t go back to that life of placidity.”

“I don’t know what I did. This power. Can you feel it?”

Vaako turns his head back towards the dragonlings, his face in profile as he speaks, “I had thought the Underverse had opened my eyes, but now I feel as though it had blinded me. There is a fire in my blood that screams, but I don’t know what for.”

When Riddick pushes into Vaako’s space again, he’s not denied this time, and brushing his nose against Vaako’s neck, Riddick breathes in the scent of him. “Embrace your animal side. Let me show you,” Riddick rumbles before pressing his mouth against Vaako’s.

Fingers clasped together, they walk side by side, both smiling in amusement at the twin chirps of annoyance from Pax and Jack that they are behind, scrambling to follow. The weight of them as they climbed onto their backs should have been an annoyance, not a comfort. 

Sleepy contentedness radiates through their bonds. Curious and the occasional hostile stares follow them, yet no one stops them as they wind their way through narrow passages, their feet somehow knowing the way. After one last turn, they exit onto a large shelf high up in the volcano.Together they all fly.


End file.
